Saturday, April 27, 2013

My grandfather was born in Knocknagree, a small village located in the
north-west of County Cork, Ireland, just a few miles up the road from the small
town of Rathmore, County Kerry.This
infinity scarf was inspired by that rural and lush countryside.

Designed with AnzulaFor Better or Worsted, this infinity scarf knit up in a flash! The yarn is to die for. Serioulsy. It is my new favorite and the colors are so lovely! One skein of each color is all it needs.

Notes: Instructions are
written for an infinity scarf that is knit in the round. Both charted and
written instructions are provided.Notes
on how to increase the size of the scarf are at the end of the pattern; however
you will need additional yardage.

A very special thank you to the amazing Jill Zielinski, aka Knitterella, for her graphic design work and modeling! Doesn't she look fabulous in these pictures?! Thanks Jill!! She'll also be modeling my other design that you'll see later this week!

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

I can't complain about the past few days here in New Orleans. I'm here for business to work with a family and team I've worked with for six years and I always look forward to these trips. I had a day to myself in the French Quarter Sunday and I just loved strolling Jackson square, wandering through the shops on Royal Street, eating beignets at Cafe du Monde, listening to jazz music around every corner. Just perfect.

Crawfish etouffee. Mama crawfish trying to protect her babies....hahaha.... I'm not sure I could handle a crawfish boil!

Tonight was Mosca's Restaurant, which was an awesome Italian restaurant. The shrimp was to die for. Plus, Drew Brees and Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints were there and then we met the owner and chatted with him a bit at the end of the meal. Everyone seems to know everyone here in Nawlins.

I even was able to get some pattern writing done Sunday and Monday and can't wait to release my next two designs! Here's a sneak peek....

seeing the photos of two new designs that will be released in the next few weeks

It sure has been a week. My heart has been heaving after what happened in Boston. Work has been long and there just haven't seemed to be enough hours in the week. But tomorrow I'm off to NOLA for work, so I'm trying to focus on that!!

What happy has been filling your week? This is definitely one of those weeks where we need to focus on the happy.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Go away. We really wanted to stay one more day, but no, you were lurking around the corner, reminding us of duties to get home to.

Wouldn't you just want to stay a bit longer if this was your view? But knowing Monday would be here soon enough, we packed as much crafty fun into the weekend as we could. I caught up on some long overdue IGK website stuff (e.g., look at my pretty new pattern page), while everyone else put the sewing machines to work.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Every day this week I've told myself I need to get this blog post done to show you guys something new on the needles and tell you about a few IGK happenings. And every night I'm just exhausted by the time I have a few minutes of quiet. But I'm leaving tomorrow for a long girls' weekend, so although I'm tired, I know I'll be relaxing all weekend!!

I've been dying to show you the new design on my needles. I swatched last Saturday and I'm almost done!

Look familiar? It is the edging from Knocknagree but on a worsted weight yarn instead of fingering weight. This is going to be an infinity scarf and one of the accessories that will be added to the Sullivan Family Collection by the end of the month.

I took this picture Sunday evening and it is almost done. I blame the yarn. OMG! Anzula's yarns are lovely, but her For Better or Worsted is ahhhhhhmazing! Seriously, I'm in love. It is like knitting with buttah.

A little someone liked these colors and wanted to get in on the photoshoot :)

Once this pattern is written up and released it will be perfect for our new knitalong over in the Irish Girlie Knits Group on Ravelry. Our knitalong is just getting started and you'll have until mid June to finish. This quarter we are all about shawls, infinity scarves, and cowls! All of my IGK Designs that meet this criteria are 20% off with the coupon code: HAPPYSPRING through Monday, April 15. Just head on over to my ravelry shop if you want to take advantage of the sale and then join our KAL.

The only shawl that isn't on sale is the Blue Lakes Spring Shawlette, since that is on sale already for $4.50 until Monday, April 15. Another one skein shawl design.....it knits up in a flash! You may remember a quick end of summer getaway last August that I talked about here. This design was born there.

A lake hidden in the
mountains. Clear blue waters amidst
redwoods and pine trees. Summers of my
childhood were spent here and when I returned this year I was inspired. The perfect blue colorway is highlighted in
the simplicity of the garter stitch body, while the pine cones are captured in
the lace edging.

You may recognize my lovely model as Jill of Knitterella fame. Thanks to her and Alisa Deshano Divine for collaborating and bringing my pattern to life in these lovely photos. For more info about them, Jill has a great post here. I'm hoping to finish up another knit this weekend and get another design or two off to her!

Note:
Instructions
are written for a top-down shawlette.
Both charted and written instructions are provided for the lace edging. Notes on how to increase the size of the
shawlette are at the end of the pattern; however you will need additional
yardage.

Finished
measurements: 51” wide and 22 ½” long
at center points, after blocking

So that's a bit of the update on the knitting front. I'm hoping to get lots more done this weekend. What do you have on your needles? I'd love to hear!

Happy Weekend!!!xoxo Irishgirlieknits

P.S. Did you see Anne Hanson's Craftsy class has been released?! You guys know I'm a huge fan of hers and I think I've taken 4 classes from Anne and have learned so much! I'll be signing up for this one soon :)